The Inkwell Ideas Kickstarter is proving to be quite an exciting project! For a very reasonably priced pledge you’ll get some amazing cards filled with killer artwork. This kind of Kickstarter doesn’t come around that often, and when it does many people find themselves missing a chance to pledge and “missing the boat” entirely!

I for one have already pledged at nearly the highest level available to make use of the surprisingly wide array of quality stock art contained within the folds of this project. Yes, there’s stock art too! Before we drop the list of great stuff you get, let’s take a look at the basic rewards of backing this Kickstarter. If you’re a gamer you’ll get five great creature and two innovative encounter card decks containing 54 cards each with artwork from a group of very talented artists. Much of the art is already done and can be viewed in depth at the Inkwell Ideas Kickstarter page. You also may pledge toward a monster cardstock minis deck. All of these decks are very reasonably priced ($15 a deck and $12 for each additional deck or $11 per deck if you get 7 or more; includes US shipping).

If you’re a publisher you will have the chance to snag a large folder crammed to the brim with quality creature artwork to include in your adventures, campaign setting, or bestiary materials. Overall I would rate this Kickstarter a 9/10 due to the fact that it is:

1. Reasonably priced
2. Contains high quality product
3. Company has a solid track record
4. Artists have already produced much of the work (fast turnaround)

The project is just about to reach 80% of its goal and it just posted a pledge helper web page which helps you pick a pledge level and amount for the rewards you want.

Reward summary:

There are 5 different creature card decks of 54 cards each (plus a cover and license card.) Each creature deck focuses on a few creature types.

Each of the 5 creature card decks will be done with stats on the backs for 5 different systems: Pathfinder, Labyrinth Lord (1E Fantasy), Dungeon World, Fate, and there will be a set of the 5 creature decks with Ecology/System Neutral information. Plus there will also be a deck with blank backs.

The project also offers 2 Encounter Decks which help make more interesting, dynamic random encounters. Think of them as Mad Libs meed the book of Lairs.

The ENnie-nominated DungeonMorph cards and Monster Stand-Ins pre-printed cardstock minis are available as additional rewards.

The Creature and Encounter cards have PDFs available. You can pledge for them by themselves or get them free if you get the physical decks. The Monster Stand-Ins also have a PDF, but due to the discount on the physical stand-ins and the large number of creatures in the file, they PDF is not included free with the physical product. (The physical stand-ins have 600 minis of 250+ creatures. The PDF will have 350 or perhaps 400+ creatures and you can print as many as you want.)

Most of the art is available as stock art for other publishers. See the Stock Art section near the bottom of the Kickstarter page linked above.

About Jonathan G. Nelson

Jonathan G. Nelson is the editor-in-chief and owner of NERD TREK. He is also owner/publisher at AAW Games / AdventureAWeek.com, a tabletop gaming company based in Snoqualmie, WA.
Connect with Jonathan via Facebook.